Southwest Airlines Environmental Factors

Kathryn Gehlmann

Professor McClung

Marketing 215

15 September 2015

The Adjustments Made to Southwest Airlines After 2001

Environmental factors have changed drastically over the past fourteen years. Since September 11, 2001, Airlines have changed greatly to enable safer and cost efficient flights for the world. Specifically, Southwest Airlines has changed their marketing strategy for their flights since 2001. Southwest has faced environmental factors that have affected the costs in airlines, exploited those environmental factors, and faced influential factors in addition.

There are many factors that could have affected the airlines after 2001. Southwest airlines faced environmental factors such as competition and social/cultural forces.

Competition can be defined as a number of different marketing brands that are competing against yours. There are many airlines that compete against each other for the highest number of tickets purchased. Southwest Airlines wants to, essentially, clarify that they are the best in the business. Another example of an environmental factor includes social/cultural forces. These two factors are defined by an individual’s/groups structure and dynamic about their marketing operations in addition to their trends (MY MARKETING NOTEBOOK 2015). Southwest Airlines wants to track individuals and groups of people who prefer certain things when they are flying. They want to make sure that they have everything that these types of people want on a flight so it attracts them. The cost of flights vary among different airlines. They are always changing due to the other airlines that are in competition with them. This, however, did not affect the purchasing of tickets by people who chose to use their airline. These two environmental forces affected Southwest Airlines after 2001.
After learning about the environmental factors that were affecting Southwest Airlines, they exploited them with specific tactics.

For example, giants of the industry merged to make super-giants. Southwest Airlines decided to merge with another airline called AirTran. They formed one huge airline that became the fourth-largest airline in the United States. This allowed Southwest Airlines to pull in even more people than they had been doing separately. This was also a positive impact because if people were fans of the AirTran Airlines, it is a possibility that they will stick with their preferences and continue to buy tickets for their flights. This benefited Southwest Airlines greatly. Another example of specific tactics that Southwest Airlines implemented included the number of people that were on airplanes within the last year compared to that of 2001. In 2010, there were 720.4 million people who were on airplanes. In 2000, 719.1 million people were on airplanes, which was slightly lower than people who fly even after September 11th. After the attacks on America, airlines actually were seeing more people flying than they were in 2001. So, these special tactics that Southwest Airlines implemented increased their sales in tickets (Goldschein 2011). However, there are several influential factors that affected these

tactics.
Southwest Airlines faced influential factors from the special tactics that they created. For example, the oldest airlines in the world started to go under. Mexicana Airlines, which has been around since 2010, couldn’t keep up with the changes in the environment and people stopped purchasing their tickets causing them to go under. Outside of the U.S., Iraqi Airlines was also affected by these factors and went under in 2010. These influencing factors caused other airlines to cease business (Goldschein 2011). In addition, decrease in travel was also another influential factor. Many people are not traveling on ground, which increase the amount of people who travel by plane. Recent changes in safety has reassured people’s ideas about flying and are doing so more often. The influential factors have affected the environmental factors although mostly for the better.
In conclusion, airlines has changed remarkably over the last fourteen years by creating many advances in their industry to ensure a safe flight from point A to point B. Southwest Airlines have establish a strong relationship with its buyers and instilled trust and reassurance into the minds of Americans after the attacks on our country. Southwest has faced environmental factors that have affected the costs in airlines, exploited those environmental factors, and faced influential factors, but have continued to show a strong relationship with people flying throughout the world.

Works Cited
Goldschein, E. (2011, September 8). 13 Ways The U.S. Airline Industry Has Changed Since 9/11. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
MY MARKETING NOTEBOOK: The six (6) external environmental forces that can influence your business. (2012, November 13). Retrieved September 14, 2015.